1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable-type steering device, including a wire driving means connected to a steering wheel, and a wire follower means connected to a gear box for steering vehicle wheels. The wire driving means and the wire follower means are connected to each other by wires, so that a steering torque inputted to the steering wheel is transmitted to the gear box through the wires.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional steering device for a vehicle, a steering shaft having a steering wheel at an upper end thereof is connected at its lower end to the gear box, so that the steering torque inputted to the steering wheel is transmitted through the steering shaft to a rack and pinion mechanism which is mounted within the gear box.
However, if the steering wheel and the gear box are connected to each other using the steering shaft, the position of the steering wheel relative to the position of the gear box is relatively fixed, and there is little freedom in selecting a preferred position for either element. For this reason, there is encountered a problem in that the degree of freedom of design is substantially limited, and further, the gear box can not be commonly used in a right-hand steered vehicle and a left-hand steered vehicle. Moreover, another problem is that vibrations inputted to a tire from a road surface and the vibration of an engine are inputted to the steering wheel through the steering shaft and hence, the level of audible sound within a vehicle compartment and the riding comfort are impeded by such vibrations.
Therefore, there is a proposed cable-type steering device which employs a flexible transmitting means such as a Bowden wire and the like in place of the conventional steering shaft (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.8-2431).
If the construction of the proposed cable-type steering device is used, the position of the steering wheel relative to the position of the gear box can be freely selected and moreover, the vibration of the gear box is not readily transmitted to the steering wheel and hence, the above-described problems can be solved.
In the proposed cable-type steering device, however, the direction of drawing of the wire from the pulley mounted on the rotary shaft of the steering wheel is a direction perpendicular to the rotary shaft. For this reason, in order to avoid marring the appearance due to the exposure of the wire to the inside of a vehicle compartment short of an instrument panel, it is necessary to take the design in the vicinity of the steering wheel into special consideration.
The present invention has been accomplished with the above circumstance in view, and one object of the present invention to facilitate handling of the wires connecting the steering wheel and the gear box to enhance the appearance around the steering wheel.